Monk Leveling Guide (WoD 6.1)

This guide is not meant to be a questing guide. It will explain to you,
in detail, how to play your Monk as you level it up: how to spend your
talent points, what abilities to use, etc.

1.1. Specialisation Choice

The Windwalker specialisation is, by far, the best choice for leveling up
your Monk. It provides you with the ability to dispose of many enemies, with
very little or no down-time.

1.2. Questing

The choice between Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms is not very relevant,
so you can choose where you wish to level based on personal preference.

When you reach Level 80, you will have the choice between two Cataclysm
areas: Vash'jir and Mount Hyjal. Avoid Vash'jir because questing under water
as a melee class is really time consuming.

In capital cities, you have a Hero's Call Board, which offers quests and
redirects you to questing areas of your level.

As a Windwalker Monk, you should avoid trying to complete quests designed for
3 or more players alone.

1.3. Dungeons

Doing dungeons repeatedly is not an efficient way of leveling. Only do a
dungeon once, after you have gathered all the quests for it. For many dungeons
in Outland and Northrend, you can take all the related quests by simply queuing
for the dungeon.

1.4. Professions

If this is your first character on a server, you should take two gathering
professions (or Enchanting). It enables you to gather mats and use them for
a crafting profession once you have reached Level 85. If you are worried about
running out of bag space, you can simply make an alt character, send all your
mats to it, and leave them in that character's mailbox until you need them.
Note that after 29 days, the items that are uncollected from the mailbox will
be sent back to the sender (so, your Monk, in this case). From this mailbox,
29 days later, the items will be forever deleted, so you cannot make use of
this trick indefinitely to store items, but it can be useful while your bag
space is limited.

If you take gathering professions, doing dungeons is really bad because it
makes you level up without giving you much chance to do any gathering.

1.5. Loot

As a Windwalker Monk, you can either use a Staff or a Polearm, or you can
dual-wield One-Handed Axes/Maces/Swords or Fist Weapons.

You will want to only use Leather items with Agility as their main
statistic. This becomes especially true after level 50, because you will then
gain the Leather Specialization proficiency.

1.6. PvP

Even on PvP servers, actual PvP fights while leveling up are quite rare.
For this reason, we do not insist on PvP-oriented abilities and focus only
on PvE-oriented abilities so that you can quest as fast as possible.

1.7. Heirloom Items

If you already have a Level 85 character, you can purchase Heirloom items.
These items are bound to your account and you can freely send them from one
character to another (the only restriction is that you cannot send them to
a character on another realm). The stats that these items give scale with your
level and approximately match the items you would get by questing. They also
make you gain more experience and the bonus each item gives stacks with the
bonus given by your other Heirloom items.

There are two ways to obtain these items: by buying them, with Justice
Points, from a Heirloom vendor in Stormwind, Orgrimmar, or Shattrath City or
Dalaran, or by buying them, with gold, from a Guild Vendor in a capital city
(but your guild must have unlocked these items first by reaching a certain
level).

Heirloom vendors provide the following items of interest to Windwalker
Monk (you should remove them as soon as you reach level 80):

Energy never decays. A natural consequence of this is that your normal
state is to have a full Energy bar (such as before starting combat).

Being at maximum capcaity causes any additional Energy you would generate
to be wasted.

1.8.2. Chi

Chi is a Monk-only resource. There are several things you need to know
about Chi:

Chi is generated by several abilities, the most notable of them being
Jab.

Chi is spent on many crucial abilities, that are part of your
rotation.

You have a maximum capacity of 4 Chi (5, if you have the Ascension
talent).

Chi decays quickly when outside of combat, but it does not decay while
in combat. A natural consequence of this is that, when starting a fight, you
will have no Chi.

Generating Chi while you are at maximum capacity will cause the new Chi
to be wasted. The only exception to this is the Chi generated thanks to the
Power Strikes talent, which spawns a Chi sphere each time your Chi
would be wasted. The sphere grants you 1 Chi when you walk over it.

1.9. Peak of Serenity

At level 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80, you will be offered a
Monk-specific quest. You will have to travel to the Peak of Serenity in
Kun-Lai Summit in order to complete the quest. This is made easy by an
ability called Zen Pilgrimage (gained at level 20), which teleports you
there and then back to your original location.

After completing the quest offered at level 20, you will also be offered
a daily quest, also located at the Peak of Serenity.

Completing any of the quests (the regular and the daily quests) will provide
you with a 1-hour buff called Enlightenment, which increases the
experience you gain from killing enemies and completing quests by 50%. This
will greatly speed up your leveling process.

At Level 3 you gain Tiger Palm. This
is a Chi finisher, and you should use this to spend the Chi that Jab
generates. Using Tiger Palm will also stack Tiger Power on you, which
causes your attacks to ignore the target's armor. Whenever possible, you
should try to keep this buff active.

At Level 5 you gain Roll. This is
very useful for moving around, and you should make extensive use of it.

At Level 7 you gain Blackout Kick.
This is another Chi finisher, which does more damage than Tiger Palm. You
should use this to spend Chi, whenever you don't need to refresh
Tiger Palm.

So far, your gameplay consists of spamming Jab and
Blackout Kick on targets, while also keeping up your
Tiger Power buff. You should also be making extensive use of
Roll.

At Level 10 you can choose your
specialisation. You should choose Windwalker. This will grant you a new
ability and two new mechanics:

Fists of Fury is a channeled Chi finisher with a 25 second cooldown.
It deals damage to multiple targets in front of you, also stunning them. This
is a very strong ability, which you should use on cooldown.

Tiger Strikes is a passive ability that sometimes causes you to
gain an increased attack speed. It is just a passive benefit that you don't
need to worry about.

At Level 14 you gain Provoke. This
is a taunt, which you can use to pull mobs from a distance to you (assuming
that they are not casters). As an added benefit, the mob will move 50% faster
when coming towards you, which will greatly speed up your questing.

At Level 15 you gain a new talent point. We
recommend Celerity, although it does not really matter which talent
you choose, as long as you make use of it in your questing.

At Level 18 you gain two new abilities:

Flying Serpent Kick is extremely useful for helping you move around
even faster, from one quest mob to another.

Resuscitate allows you resurrect dead allies, which is useful if
you are questing with other players, or doing dungeons.

Detox allows you to remove Poison and Disease effects from
yourself or another ally. It will sometimes come in handy during questing.

Zen Pilgrimage teleports you to the Peak of Serenity, where there
is a Monk trainer and various quest NPCs. Casting the spell again teleports you
back to your original location. This spell is very useful for helping you
complete the Monk-specific quests we mentioned at the start of the guide.

Combat Conditioning causes your Blackout Kick to heal you
for 20% of your maximum health, each time you attack an enemy with it from the
front. In case you use it to attack an enemy from the back, something which is
unlikely while questing, it will deal 20% additional damage to the target, in
the form of a 4-second DoT.

At Level 22 you gain 2 new abilities:

Touch of Death is an ability that instantly kills any target that
has equal or less health than you. It is restricted by a 90 second cooldown,
but it is still extremely powerful, and it will help you greatly while
questing.

Touch of Karma is a cooldown that causes all damage dealt to you to
be redirected to the enemy target. It lasts 6 seconds. You should use this
whenever you are fighting enemies that deal considerable damage to you.

At Level 24 you gain Fortifying Brew.
This is a defensive cooldown that increases your maximum health by 20%, and
reduces all damage taken by 20%, for 20 seconds. You should use it whenever you
are in danger of dying.

At Level 25 you unlock a Major and Minor
glyph slot. While many Major Glyphs will offer you various slight benefits,
we do not consider any of them to be particularly important or helpful while
leveling up. We do, however, recommend Glyph of Water Roll, a Minor
Glyph.

At Level 26 you gain an active and a passive
ability:

Expel Harm is a spell that costs Energy and generates Chi, just
like Jab. However, unlike Jab, Expel Harm also heals you, and causes
50% of the amount healed to be done as damage to a nearby enemy (the spell is
not targeted). You should use Expel Harm instead of Chi whenever you are
lacking health.

Afterlife grants you a 50% chance to summon a Healing Sphere
each time you kill an enemy. It also grants you a 50% chance to summon a
Chi sphere each time you kill an enemy with Blackout Kick. These
spheres spawn next to you, and grant you health and Chi, respectively, when you
walk over them. The healing spheres in particular will be a great way for you
to keep your health up while going from mob to mob.

At Level 28 you gain Disable. This
spell reduces the movement speed of an enemy target by 50%, and, if used again
on the same target, roots it for 8 seconds. This spell is largely useless to
you while leveling up.

To aid your survival, make sure to use Expel Harm and
Fortifying Brew, and to be mindful of the healing spheres that spawn
each time you kill an enemy.

At Level 30 you gain a new talent point. We
recommend Chi Wave, which you can use to heal yourself (and deal some
damage). The other two options are also good, although Zen Sphere is
probably the worst choice.

At Level 32 you gain Spear Hand Strike.
This is a single target interrupt, which you can use whenever you are fighting
a caster mob, to reduce the damage you take.

At Level 36 you gain Energizing Brew.
This is a cooldown that grants you 60 Energy over the course of 6 seconds.
You should use this whenever you are low on Energy (but make sure not to waste
it, such as when your target is almost dead and there is other target
nearby).

To aid your survival, make sure to use Expel Harm, your tier 2
talent, and Fortifying Brew, and to be mindful of the healing spheres
that spawn each time you kill an enemy.

At Level 44 you gain Paralysis. This
is a crowd control that incapacitates an enemy target for 30 seconds. It is
broken by damage. You can use this if you have accidentally pulled too many
enemies and you wish to take one of them out of the fight while you deal with
the others.

At Level 45 you gain a new talent point. We
recommend Power Strikes or Chi Brew, both of which increase the
amount of Chi you generate. Power Strikes works passively, so it will probably
be easier for you to use.

Also at level 45 you gain Adaptation, which is a passive ability
that increases your chance to dodge while you are disarmed. You should not
concern yourself with this.

At Level 46 you gain
Spinning Crane Kick. This is a channeled AoE attack, that generates
Chi when it hits 3 or more targets. You can use this when you are fighting
3 or more enemies, but otherwise you should never use it.

Additionally, at level 50, you unlock one new Major and Minor Glyph slots.
There are no glyphs that we recommend for this, but you are free to browse your
own glyphs and choose something that you like.

At Level 54 you gain
Crackling Jade Lightning. This is a channeled ranged attack that deals
damage to the target, and each tick has a 25% chance to generate 1 Chi. If the
enemy attacks you while this spell is being channeled, they will be knocked
back slightly. Generally speaking, you should never use this spell. There are
some instances, however, where it can be useful, such as when an enemy runs
away from you when on low health, or when an enemy is in an otherwise
unreachable location.

At Level 56 you gain two very important
abilities:

Rising Sun Kick is a very powerful ability, which deals a large
amount of damage to the target. It also debuffs the target (and other enemies
within 8 yards), causing them to take increased damage from you for 15 seconds. This ability becomes a staple of your playstyle.

Tigereye Brew (and the accompanying passive ability
Brewing: Tigereye Brew is a bit more complex. For each 4 Chi you spend,
you get a stacking buff. When you use Tigereye Brew, the stacks are consumed,
increasing your damage done by 2% per stack, for 15 seconds. You should try to
use this ability as often as possible. Ideally, you should keep your stacks
until you reach 8-10 (10 is the maximum), and then use it on a new mob, so
that you benefit from the increased damage for the entire duration.

At Level 81 you gain
Legacy of the White Tiger. This is a party/raid-wide buff, which increases
Strength, Agility, and Intellect by 5%. You should always have this active.

At Level 82 you gain Zen Meditation. This
is a channeled ability that reduces all damage taken by 90% for 8 seconds, but
being hit by a melee attack cancels the effect. This spell will be mostly
useless to you as you level up.

At Level 87 you gain Transcendence. This
spell allows you to leave a copy of yourself behind, at your current location.
You can then use Transcendence: Transfer (which you also gain at level
87) to return to the location of your copy. This spell can prove useful in some
situations, but overall you will not be using it often.

At Level 90 you gain another talent point.
You will probably find Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger to be the most useful
talent in this tier, and you should use this ability against any powerful
enemies you encounter.